Oncologists

According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, employment of all physicians is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2022 due to continued expansion of health care industries and the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which has increased the number of people who are covered by health insurance. The specialty of oncology should see even stronger growth in response to patient demand for access to specialty care, an impending wave of physician retirements (nearly 20 percent of cancer specialists are over the age of 64), a growing and aging population, new research, changing diagnostic techniques, and new treatment possibilities. The American Society of Clinical Oncology predicts that there will be a shortage of nearly 1,490 oncologists by 2024.